School start time survey to be distributed in Rochester

Wednesday

Jan 30, 2013 at 3:15 AMJan 30, 2013 at 5:44 AM

By Samantha Allensallen@fosters.com

ROCHESTER — The Rochester School Board's ad hoc committee, tasked with determining whether the district should start school at a later time, is moving forward with distributing a survey for local parents and guardians to fill out on the subject.

The group was formed by a motion from board member Dan Harkinson, who requested the committee set forth a final recommendation to the board, either to keep school times as they are currently, or to move them forward.

The committee has determined if they were to vote in favor of a recommendation for a time change, the schedule for students in Grades 6-12 would be moved from 7:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. while elementary school students would have to start at 9 a.m., because of a shift in bus scheduling.

If a later start times were approved, they would most likely go into effect at the start of the 2014 school year.

Harkinson, who serves as chairman of the committee, noted at a recent meeting approximately one-third of previously surveyed students said they wished to start school at the 8 a.m. mark, while 40 percent of students noted they were comfortable keeping the start times as they currently are.

Tuesday evening, the ad hoc group met to discuss tweaks and final edits to a districtwide survey for parents and guardians to weigh in on the hot topic with questions addressing what kind of impact a time change would have on them and whether a 2:45 p.m. or 2:15 p.m. release time would be most preferable at the middle and high school levels.

Officials say they are aiming to release the survey in early February with a closing date set for mid-March. The survey will be made available through the student information system Infinite Campus and in hard copy format.

Assistant Superintendent Mary Moriarty told Foster's it is likely the surveying period will end on March 20, with the next ad hoc meeting scheduled for March 26 at 5 p.m. in the regular school board meeting room in the Rochester Community Center.

During this week's meeting, Rochester resident Doris Gates asked the committee to consider how a change in times could affect parents' and guardians' wallets as some adjust their before- and after-school day care needs. Harkinson said participants will be asked in the survey to gauge whether the time shift would negatively or positively affect their households, and he assumed they would take into consideration any added costs for day care expenses in that question.

The committee said the survey will also include a written introduction that states a proposal to change start times would come at no additional cost to the taxpayers.

Moriarty noted all of the local elementary schools have day care options available to families and through her investigation, a shifting of the bus schedules by 30 minutes would cost the same as it does currently. She pointed out if the district were to select a different start time for each school so the bus schedules no longer aligned — an option not being considered by the district — the price tag would be $610,000.

Spaulding High School Assistant Principal Ryan Kaplan informed the committee he had also consulted with the athletic department as well as the Career and Technical Education (CTE) program and both groups say the time shift would be significant for their operations, but manageable.

Kaplan said Athletic Director Kevin Hebert reported 500 out of 1,500 Spaulding High students play sports, and the most significant effects would be felt by the golf teams, whose players would miss 30 minutes of class time when dismissed for an away match. In the CTE program, where students from the Tri-City region attend the Richard W. Creteau Regional Technology Center at the Spaulding campus, the shift would also be “workable,” Kaplan said.

After the meeting, student representative Meghan Haskell, a Wakefield freshman at Spaulding High, said she was hopeful the committee would eventually recommend later start times. She said most of her Wakefield peers need to wake up around 4 a.m. to catch a bus to Rochester and a change in times could help.

“I'm hoping for the schedule to change, even if it's just a half an hour, because I'm more concerned for the Wakefield-ers…,” she said. “They're so tired that they're falling asleep (at school).”

Haskell added many of her friends have been on board with the idea, though some were hesitant when they heard a false rumor Wakefield would drop their tuition agreement with the Rochester district, should the change take place. Wakefield School Board member Vivian Macedo, who also sits on the ad hoc committee, addressed that issue Tuesday night and informed the group that would not happen.